David Lee Roth’s Skyscraper

Just saw the album cover for the first time. This article suggests that Roth was “a relatively experienced climber,” which really doesn’t mean much. Pretty cool that Rowell took the picture and Kauk and Braun were involved. Anyone know more about the story?

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/david-lee-roth-skyscraper-cover-shoot/

Don’t t know if you can search supertopo anymore but the story was told there a couple of times.

As stated in the article, supposedly it was really sketch, yet they told him it was fine...

http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/3165726/David-Lee-Roth-almost-dies-Climbing

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=78334

I think some people saw him around the valley and also hanging around Josh.

Apparently Werner clipped him off to some mank pin in the middle of nowhere and swung away with the ropes??!! Great story. 

Thanks for those taco links, cool to hear it from Braun himself. The cover looks like he’s standing in a ladder, which I guess is clipped to the garbage pin. Rope isn’t obvious and another commenter implied that he’s ropeless? Amazing.

Love the bit about Roth being terrified of cables, but cruised it after someone on his team drugged him up.

Anyone know of any time or any evidence of Roth doing any real climbing of his own?

Isn't there a story in one of the Red River Gorge guidebooks about Dave's tour bus getting stuck in the Nada Tunnel?

I'm pretty sure that he did some climbing with Ed Webster, but don't recall any details. I think there are some stories in Ed's book about his Everest adventures.

DLR's book "Crazy From the Heat" is a must read for anyone interested in the hilarious and sometimes confusing rantings of a lunatic.  While he does mention his climbing throughout the book, trying to absorb useful information is like trying to drink from a fire hose.

Pandy Fackler wrote:

DLR's book "Crazy From the Heat" is a must read for anyone interested in the hilarious and sometimes confusing rantings of a lunatic.  While he does mention his climbing throughout the book, trying to absorb useful information is like trying to drink from a fire hose.

Best book review I’ve read in a while. 

Alan Rubin wrote:

I'm pretty sure that he did some climbing with Ed Webster, but don't recall any details.

I think that was Billy Squier. Not to split hairs. Big hairs. Ha.

I would take Braun's account on the event with a few grains of salt. But it's a hilarious story. And I don't think Roth was ever much of a climber; a dilettante at best. 

A rock climbers anthem?

While I might be confusing the 2 , I think that Ed may have climbed with both of them ( not together—though that would definitely have been ‘interesting’).

Don't know how much he climbed but in the early 90's I was at a magazine stand and Diamond Dave was there buying a stack of mags, he got all excited when he overhead me ask the clerk if they had Climbing.

Alan Rubin wrote:

I'm pretty sure that he did some climbing with Ed Webster, but don't recall any details. I think there are some stories in Ed's book about his Everest adventures.

My wife's reading that book right now. DLR is mentioned only peripherally - Ed rec'd a copy of the Skyscraper cassette in a "care package". But Billy Squire is definitely in there.

As far as I know, DLR has been to the edge. He stood and looked down, but he lost a lot of friends there so he's got no time to mess around.

Aren't there some stories of diamond Dave rolling through Jtree national monument in an amazing set of wheels? Us festival '82 was amazing. Scorpion's set was tight and Van Halen's finish was rad. Any more desert hijinks re: climbing are legend. Yosemite hardmen guiding rock stars was au Courant and preceded Hollywood blockbuster films and global supergroup albums by only months. So many cares of the world seemed to fade as the tires spun eastward out of Riverside county towards fingertip shredding stones of gold. The magic is still out there. . .

Will McCarthy wrote:

Aren't there some stories of diamond Dave rolling through Jtree national monument in an amazing set of wheels? Us festival '82 was amazing. Scorpion's set was tight and Van Halen's finish was rad. Any more desert hijinks re: climbing are legend. Yosemite hardmen guiding rock stars was au Courant and preceded Hollywood blockbuster films and global supergroup albums by only months. So many cares of the world seemed to fade as the tires spun eastward out of Riverside county towards fingertip shredding stones of gold. The magic is still out there. . .

It was US '83...... VH sucked, they were all on mushrooms

Aaah, memories of listening to this song as a pimply 15 YO. The 80s were awesome, then Nirvana came and ruined it. Fvck the 90s!

I don't hate on Diamond Dave. I still think what he did as a non-climber was impressive. Look at his flexibility in that video! If I was him, I would have spent all my time getting coked up and banging groupies. I've never aid-climbed or done a Tyrolean traverse. 

Of course, if I was a non-climber and had access to the high quality coke that DD had, I might easily work up the nerve to do it.

Jon Rust wrote:

As far as I know, DLR has been to the edge. He stood and looked down, but he lost a lot of friends there so he's got no time to mess around.

Oh nice! I guess when you get to that point you might as well jump...

IIRC skyscraper came out when i was a freshman or sophomore in high school.  i remember riding out to the crag with my friends after school and on weekends listening to it.  vai's guitar work on it is pretty cool.  a couple times a year i still jump on youtube and listen to it and think about those days where 4 of us shared one harness, a pair of shoes, 3 quickdraws and 2/3's of an old 11mm rope.

those were good times, damn good times...

DLR is just a bad rip off of Jim Dandy!